Mental Health for Community Owners

As it’s Mental Health May, we thought it would be appropriate to put together some quick mental health tips for community owners.

Here’s a video that we made a couple of weeks back on the topic.

What is Mental Health and why is it important?

Mental Health is about how we feel and how we respond to situations. If we have good mental health, we will feel calm and in control. If we have bad mental health, we may feel anxious or stressed about the future. It’s a collection of our emotions, psyche and social interactions. Mental health isn’t just about the absence of illness, but as well as having good well-being and confidence.

As a community owner, there is a lot of pressure placed on us to perform at our best and to be available around the clock to assist with issues. We’re responsible for a lot of people which is understandable, but we need to put our own well-being first, otherwise, we’re useless at dealing with anything else in a calm and focused way.

How do I maintain Positive Health?

Connect with Others – Connecting with others allows us to take a break from all the worries on our life as well as share problems and common experiences if we have any. It can be a great outlet and a good distraction from stresses in your life. This could even be hanging out with your community members, such as talking one-on-one with them, in a group chat or in an event.

Acknowledge your feelings – Don’t push your feelings away, you should accept them for what they are. Your feelings are what make you, you. Pushing them away will only make them come back stronger.

Exercise – Exercising is a great way to release our happy hormones which give our mood a boost. It could be walking, running, riding a bike, or even getting outside is enough to help us feel a heap better. Simply, just get moving. There may be a stereotype among online communities about exercise, but it’s important to just get out there.

Practice Mindfulness – Practicing mindfulness is a great way to acknowledge how we feel and calm ourselves. There are hundreds of free guided meditations available on YouTube and Calm, try one out.

When do I seek help?

If you’re really struggling, to the point where you are struggling to function in your life normally, or you’re not doing the things you love anymore, that’s when you should reach out to someone.

Thanks for checking out this article! I hope you were able to pull something from it. Mental Health is a still-developing area of research and it’s a lifelong challenge that we face. Keep on rocking!